schedule slippage

Question 1: There is one very important step that needs to be added: RECOVERY PLAN Question 2: Tracking IS NOT sufficient to prevent slipages. You need to be IN CONTROL of your project, or whoever should be in control of that project. To be in control, first you need to know what, when and how you need to carry out your project; and second, you need to direct your project and make things happen that way. In order to be able to do all this you need to have the appropiate planning and resources.

Before considering preaparing a recovery plan or manage schedule slippage, a contract shall determine first when & how much % slippage before one would start preparing this recovery plan. If the contract stipulates to prepare a recovery plan if and when the project slips by 5%, 8% etc. Parameters such as this is very important so as not to deviate the attention of project stakeholders to one of the most important part of scheduling which is tracking. A project would always experience in one way or the other schedule slippages be it 1%, 2% etc., that's why it is very important to stipulate parameters.

In my experience if the schedule is tight a 10% slippage requires a schedule revision cause it is not practical and hard to achieve the original completion date. The reverse happens in a not so tight schedule 20 to 30% slippage can still be recovered without revision to the master schedule.A tight schedule can be define as no float at all and the not so tight is the one who has a float to be use just in case a slippage occurs. So the lesson i learn is that we should allow our program to take it slippage cause it always good to have contingies whether attributed to the contractor or the owner.

what do u menan by "float" in a tight schedule

What i meant by float in a tight schedule is the lead and lag time we put in the schedule. The contingenies, as put in cost. Its a self absorving mechanism provided in the programme that would take care of a limited time impact.

In my opinion float does not really exist, except as the product of a calculation in a CPA network.
May I define what ‘Float’ is, in principle? It is the difference between how long is available to do something and how long it will take to do. If there is no difference then there is no float, and so it is said to be critical. Programmers and software refer to float in many terms such as free float, total float, terminal float, etc, but these relate to the Project as a whole and not independent activities. Also one must understand how a programme (schedule) is compiled and how the duration of activities are estimated.
Just consider this - A programme schedule of activities, defines optimum time periods in which the work can be carried out. If the work can be to be executed in a shorter period of time then one could argue that float is evident, I would call it risk allowance. But programme schedules are just a forecast of what might happen in the future and so any apparent float may not in the event exist.
Look at programming like this – it is more of a tool for prioritising the sequence of work operations. Imagine having a complete list of all of the things that have to happen on a project, and try to predict in what order everything needs to be accomplished. Now some things may appear to be more critical than others, but only based on estimations.